films

28-year former Portland resident Robin Moore burst onto the bike world with his role as MC SpandX in the hilarious spoof rap video “Performance“. The video was shot entirely in Portland and when it debuted in 2009 it became a viral hit. So far it has nearly 2.3 million views on YouTube. After Performance, Moore went on to create “Get Dirty“, “Le Velo” and he scored a few cameos in BikeSnobNYC videos.

Today, Moore is the co-founder of +M Productions and has focused his considerable filmmaking talent onto something much more serious that spandex jokes; an documentary titled “Momenta” which exposes the dangers of proposed coal train exports in the Pacific Northwest. Moore dropped us a line last week and we emailed him a few questions to learn more about his project. (more…)

Well it turns out that Craigslist post was the inspiration one of my favorite movies from the Filmed By Bike festival that wrapped up Tuesday night. Portland-based writer/director Mike Vogel of Front Ave Productions created his short film, Doored – Fractured Skull, Broken Hearts, based on that Craigslist post and it made its debut at the festival. (more…)

Southeast Portland resident and hobbyist movie maker Merritt Raitt debuted a new film at Filmed by Bike over the weekend. Circle Century documents his attempt to ride 100 miles, non-stop around Ladd Circle.

Raitt, who lives just a few houses down from the circle, accomplished his feat back in August 2011 but his movie has just now been released to the public. I followed up with Merritt to ask him a bit more about what it was like to ride a 0.15 mile loop of a neighborhood street 660 times without any breaks.(more…)

Bare As You Dare, a new documentary that goes behind the scenes of Portland’s annual World Naked Bike Ride will debut at Filmed by Bike later this month. The film was created by Ian McCluskey, Lilah Cady, and Jenn Byrne from NW Documentary, a Portland-based non-profit that teaches the “art of non-fiction storytelling.”

Bare As You Dare is a 17 minute film that features interviews with the volunteers who put on the ride. It also follows several subjects to show the diverse backgrounds of the people that participate. According to a statement from Filmed by Bike, the film, “follows a variety of subjects from a cancer survivor to a reserved homebody, who are surprisingly open in sharing their personal stories and motivation for participation.”(more…)

Two brothers who took a two-year, cross-country, roadkill-fueled bicycle journey while exploring “radical homesteading,” and “guerilla camping” will screen some of their films at Velo Cult tonight. Noah Hussin and his brother Tim documented the entire trip and are working on a film project titled America Recycled.

With partial funding from National Geographic, the brothers sought out how people were living off the land and spent time with communities far off the grid. Noah and Tim grew up in suburban Florida where they became, “Disillusioned by many of our inherited cultural values.” Their trip was an attempt to discover a different way of living. Here’s more from their USA Projects crowdfunding site: (more…)

When PDXCross burst onto the local cyclocross scene back in 2008, the bar was officially raised when it came to cyclocross photography. Simply put, these guys nailed it. There was something special happening in Portland’s cyclocross scene and these guys were telling the story each week with some of the best photos of bicycling I’ve ever come across. In the years since, they’ve built a huge following, published the Dirty Pictures coffee table book, and have continued to produce breathtaking and inspiring images of the sport we all love.

Fresh off his “Bike Smut” world tour, filmmaker, nudity activist, and bike fun provocateur Phil Sano (a.k.a. “Reverend Phil”) is launching a new weekly show at the Clinton Street Theater.

Here’s more from Sano via a press release sent out this morning:

Bike Smut, the homegrown international touring film festival, is excited to announce a new series of programming at The Clinton Street Theater. While busy curating the sixth year of original bike-sexual content from cyclists and perverts the world over, Bike Smut will spend the month of May screening some of their favorite past submissions and films that have paved the way, provided inspiration or just made them get their bike shorts in a twist. More than just bike movies without the sex or pornography sans bike, Bike Smut’s programming promises to titillate anyone’s curiosity.

Portland-based filmmaker Joe Biel (Cantankerous Titles) has released the trailer of his latest project: a documentary about cargo bike builder Tom LaBonty titled One Less Truck.

LaBonty is the 41-year old tinkerer (and baggage handler at PDX Airport by day) who builds affordable cargo bikes (they start at around $500 if you provide the frame) from used parts in his garage in the Lents neighborhood. When we profiled him back in August 2009, he was just starting to make a name for himself around town. Now, thanks to his website, his Flickr photostream, and Craigslist, he’s built and sold 55 bikes to customers around the country. (more…)

Ever wanted to be involved with the creation of a bike film? Now’s your chance. Filmmakers Liz Canning and Travis Wittwer are both working on bike film projects and they’re both looking for your help.

Ms. Canning is making (R)evolutions Per Minute, a documentary about the explosion of cargo biking in America. What makes this project doubly cool is that it’s being crowdsourced and Canning is calling for submissions. If your clip makes it into the final cut you’ll get a “co-director” credit. But don’t send the usual “I love cargo bikes!” stuff. Canning wants compelling footage that will reach out to the unconvinced.(more…)